Dark Water
by KuroNekoShoujo
Summary: Oneshot. Set during episode six of the thirteen episode series, "Saint Beast: Kouin Jojishi Tenshi Tan." When Rei is confronted by the demon, he is also confronted by one of his greatest fears...


**Ok, so I know you're all waiting for the next chapter of "Strength," and I know you're all also about ready to kill me for writing yet another oneshot when I haven't even finished "Strength" yet, but before you start forming the angry mob, please hear me out.**

**Ok, so I was watching Saint Beast: Kouin Jojishi Tenshi Tan for inspiration the other day (yes, that's my story and I'm sticking to it) and when I got to episode six at the part where Rei fights the demon that came out of the water, I thought to myself, _Wow, that would be a great place to insert some serious Rei torture!_**

**And thus, this fic was born.**

**Now, enough with my pathetic excuses and explanations. ON WITH THE FIC! **

**Warning: There is much, MUCH bishie torture in here, along with some slight bishie x bishie romance. No like, no read.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the bishies of Saint Beast. If I did, the show would have a MUCH higher rating...XD**

* * *

Rei slowly walked in pitch darkness. The inky blackness of the night seemed to press around him like blanket, only instead of being warm and comforting, it was cold and restricting.

The delicate angel shuddered. It was amazing how different the nights of Heaven and Earth were. In Heaven, night brought only mystery and beauty. Stars glittered like diamonds embedded in a black velvet sky, and the moon kissed all who dwelt beneath her with an ethereal, silvery glow. Night was a time for peaceful quiet, as well as fanciful mystery.

But on Earth, it was completely different. The stars, when they shone at all through the dense layer of clouds, seemed like little more than cold, distant points of light in a murky sky. In much the same way, the moon seemed to change from the mysterious, yet benevolent entity Rei knew her to be, to a harsh and unforgiving observer, only casting its cold glow upon the Earth when it suited its whim.

Night held no peace here, for the quiet was only threatening, waiting. The mystery and quiet of night held no allure here, for it served only to conceal potential dangers from sight.

But to Rei, the most terrifying elements of Earth lay not in the night, but in the water.

Rei cringed at the sound of the creek flowing to his left. Though in truth, the violet-haired angel was not fond of water in general. He much preferred the pure, open freedom of the skies to the cold, confining depths of the water. But on Earth, he didn't just dislike the water. He hated it...and feared it.

In Heaven, water came in the form of crystalline, mirror-like lakes and clear, lazy rivers teeming with life and beauty.

On Earth, however, the water was dead. Whatever life lay beneath the it was hidden from view by the dark, opaque surface. Anything could lurk in those murky depths, demon or fish, malevolent or benign. Even the true depth of the water was hidden by its obsidian surface, so one could only know how deep it truly was by entering the dark water itself.

The very thought sent shivers down Rei's spine. No, that was definitely the one thing Rei would never do. He'd sooner be banished from Heaven than ever, _ever_, set foot in Earth's black waters.

An odd splashing sound from the creek broke Rei from his thoughts. Hesitantly, he turned to look at the water and was very surprised to see a group of fish that, instead of swimming lazily about the water, were jumping around near the bank of creek.

_It almost seems as if they are trying to get away from the water, themselves_, Rei thought to himself. Not that he blamed them at all, but still, to fish, beaching themselves on the bank of the creek would be suicide. What would drive them to that?

"What is happening?" Rei whispered, voicing the question to which he, unfortunately, had no answer.

Suddenly, a tall jet of water shot up from the creek, causing Rei to shield his face from the spray with his arms.

When the jet finally fell away, Rei took his arms away from his face and was greeted with a horrifying sight. A large, hideous demon was standing where the jet of water had been.

Tiny droplets of dark moisture dripped off its green, deformed body. It had long, wiry arms and legs, at the ends of which were attached webbed, claw-like hands and feet. It's wide mouth opened in a grotesque smile, revealing row upon row of sharp, pointed teeth.

Its worst and most terrifying feature by far, however, were its eyes. Large, pupil-less yellow eyes that bulged out of their sockets, radiating evil and malice.

And, much to Rei's horror and disgust, those eyes were focused directly on him.

Eyes never leaving Rei, that demon opened its mouth and shot a jet of what appeared to be water at the stunned angel, which Rei only just managed to dodge.

"How dare you do that to my companions!" the demon shouted, referring to the other demons Rei and the other Saint Beasts had dispatched earlier. That being said, the fish-like demon sent another jet of water in Rei's direction. Unfortunately, this time Rei was caught off balance and was unable to dodge completely, causing the jet to skim deeply against his right ankle.

A horrible, burning pain immediately seared up the side of his leg, and he fell to the ground with a strangled cry. Pushing himself up so he could examine his ankle, he saw smoke coming off of a newly formed hole in his boot, almost as if a section of it had been burned away, and flesh underneath...Rei cringed at the sight of it.

The top layer of skin on the outside of his ankle was gone, as was a good chunk of the muscles underneath. What little flesh still clung to the bone was charred black, and the acrid smell of burning flesh clung to the air around him. There wasn't even any blood, as the spray had dissolved it all on contact. Looking at the remains of his ankle, Rei realized he had made a crucial miscalculation.

The demon wasn't shooting water. It was shooting acid.

The demon's nauseating smile grew wider, "Hurts, doesn't it? Just one drop of my acid will eat you down to the bone. Now," it growled, drawing closer to the injured angel. "I suppose I should take you to—"

But Rei never found out where the demon was going to take him, because before the demon could finish his sentence, Rei gathered his strength and shot his ice spears at the encroaching creature.

Due to the incredible agony he was experiencing because of his ankle, Rei's aim was a little off, so he only managed to wound the demon in the shoulder and arm. Nevertheless, it was enough to make the hellish creature reel back and scream in pain, giving Rei the distraction he needed to make his escape.

The fragile angel nearly passed out from the pain as he got to his feet and was forced to put weight on his charred ankle. Still, he managed to remain conscious and, unfurling his wings, took off into the dark, desolate sky.

Rei had just begun to relax, thinking that he was safe now that he was in the air, when he felt the same excruciating, burning pain he had felt on his ankle explode on the center of his back, just below where his wings connected. On reflex, his wings dematerialized, and he began to fall.

This time, the wound bled. Rei could feel the warm, life-giving fluid flow down his back as he fell. Still, the amber-eyed angel couldn't bring himself to care. All he cared about was ending the pain. And he knew, as soon as he hit the ground, he would finally get his wish.

The fall itself seemed to take a lifetime, until Rei thought he would never be free of his agony. But then, eventually, Rei felt the ground grow closer and closer, until, finally, he landed.

Right in the center of the dark, sinister creek.

All of Rei's earlier apathy about death evaporated in an instant as soon as he felt the ice cold water hit his skin. Thankfully, the water was shallow enough that he was in no danger of drowning, yet deep enough that he did not cause further damage to his back.

None of this served as a comfort to Rei, however, especially when he heard the telltale splash of the demon reentering the creek as well.

Rei thrashing and squirmed, ignoring the agony in his back in his attempts to get out of the water and away from the demon, but it all proved to be in vain, for seconds later, the creature was upon him.

"You damn little bitch!" the demon shouted, back-handing Rei so hard that he almost lost consciousness before yanking him up by his hair. "You will regret that, angel," the demon growled, spitting out the word "angel" like it was a bad taste in its mouth, then gripped Rei's hair even more tightly and shoved him, face down, into the murky water.

Every fiber of Rei's being screamed in terror and revulsion. Desperately, struggled and thrashed, kicking and flailing, trying to free himself from the demon's grasp and escape from the watery prison currently cutting off his oxygen supply.

Yet, no matter how hard he fought, or how much he struggled, the creature's grip did not loosen. Rei's lungs burned as water began to fill them, and black haziness began to encroach on the edges of his vision. _No!_ Rei screamed in his head. _I don't want to die like this! Not at the hands of a demon, not in this terrible, dark water, and most of all...not without Ruka!_

But soon, Rei couldn't fight the darkness anymore. He couldn't fight the sweet release from the pain that death promised to bring. Slowly, Rei began to slip away. _Goodbye, Ruka...I'm sorry._

* * *

Ruka knew something was wrong. He could feel it. His chest thrummed with a deep feeling of wrongness, but it wasn't until he heard the voice that he knew why.

_Goodbye, Ruka...I'm sorry_.

Rei's words echoed in Ruka's mind, bring with an intense panic the likes of which the silver-haired angel had never felt before.

Rei. Rei was in danger. His Rei, his angel, was hurt.

His Rei was dying.

Ruka's wings materialized almost automatically and he shot into the air, relying on his connection with Rei to guide him. What caused him to speed up, however, was that he felt that connection begin to grow steadily weaker.

When Ruka finally reached the creek, the sight that greeted him almost stole the breath from his lungs. A demon; a damned, disgusting creature from hell; was holding Rei's face under the water. Not only that, but there was a grievous wound on the small angel's back, no doubt caused by the demon himself, that was still leaking blood down Rei's body and into the creek, where the dark waters quickly washed away the precious liquid.

But what terrified Ruka to his very core, was that his precious angel was no longer moving.

Ruka's vision turned red. How dare such a defiled creature so much as touch Rei, let alone attempt to kill him.

Ruka swooped down and, before the demon was even aware of his presence, the crimson-eyed angel shot out a concentrated beam of energy so powerful, the demon disintegrated in an instant.

Scooping his unconscious love up into his arms, Ruka carried Rei over to the bank of the creek and gently laid him down on the soft grass. _Please, Rei. You can't die. You can't leave me._

Being as gentle as possible, Ruka opened the smaller angel's mouth, shuddering at how cold his skin was, and softly place his mouth over Rei's and breathed into his lungs.

After a few seconds of preforming this ritual, Rei's eyes shot open and he gasped, beginning to cough and retch as the water was expelled from his lungs.

Truthfully, that coughing was the most beautiful sound Ruka had ever heard. It was proof that Rei, his love and his reason for living, was still alive.

Turning Rei on his side so he would not choke, Ruka gently rubbed the small angel's shoulder (as he was afraid to touch his back) until he Rei's coughing and heaving finally calmed down.

When it did, Ruka gently gathered the wet, shivering angel into his arms and held him, ever mindful of his wounds, and softly stroked his silky hair. "Rei, thank Zeus. I was so afraid, so afraid that you..." Ruka didn't finish, and instead placed a tender kiss on Rei's forehead. "I love you, Rei."

In spite of the intense pain all throughout his body, Rei smiled slightly at those words. "Thank you, Ruka. I l-love you too, but p-please," he whispered, his smile fading as he shuddered, "Please t-take me away from here. Please take me away from the water."

* * *

**Well, there it is! My little Rei torture oneshot! I hope you enjoyed it, and if you did, and maybe even if you didn't, please please please please REVIEW! All of you should know by now how badly I need reviews, so do it! REVIEW!**

**Oh, and hopefully I'll have the next chapter of "Strength" out sometime this week. No promises, though.**

**Ja ne!**

**~Neko-chan~**


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